


to the antithesis of a phoenix, ashes rising from the fire

by broblerone



Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon (Main Video Game Series), Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types, Pocket Monsters: Sun & Moon | Pokemon Sun & Moon Versions
Genre: Free Verse, Gen, Guzma Has Issues, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, POV Second Person, PTSD, Poetry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-25
Updated: 2020-07-25
Packaged: 2021-03-05 06:21:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 281
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25499764
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/broblerone/pseuds/broblerone
Summary: a new flame rising from the ash of destruction is to miss the forest for the trees.guzma has a lot of baggage.
Kudos: 9





	to the antithesis of a phoenix, ashes rising from the fire

maybe there was a time  
when the gentle tap of footsteps  
past a closed door didn't  
make your hair stand on end,  
and maybe there was a time  
when you were a good kid,  
a better man. 

your hair looks better  
when it doesn't look like his hair.  
they say that life is an uphill battle,  
theseus carrying the parts of his ship  
up a neverending molehill  
to a place he calls freedom,  
hair clippers and bleach and  
new tattoos to cover the old ones. 

maybe there was a time  
when you would take comfort in  
the hushed voice of a mother,  
maybe there was a time  
when you would believe  
the lies you tell yourself,  
the times you look outward and  
proclaim your own booming victory  
in the wake of your silent defeat,  
because defeat is  
a fate worse than death.

golfers in country clubs are  
deadly weapons, you think,  
with their arm hair and gold watches  
and small glasses of iced liquor.  
their values are not the same  
as yours. 

there's a stark ring in the back of your head,  
and it started twenty years ago  
when you won your first bronze trophy,  
a signal of your ineptitude, a signal of  
an ungrateful son, a signal of  
your family's next stinging failure. 

maybe there was a time  
when the concept of a phoenix,  
of building something  
new from rubble,  
could appeal to you,  
but rubble provides you sanctuary  
from cold steely gazes,  
rubble grants you an  
emergency exit,  
rubble is the safety in numbers  
that destruction always brings,  
without fail. 

maybe there was a time  
when your own footsteps  
were a gentle tap. 

maybe your hair stood on end.


End file.
